Heatshield for extreme entry environment technology nears maturity

Over the past four years, NASA's Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology (HEEET) Project has been maturing a novel, three-dimensional, woven Thermal Protection System (TPS) technology for science missions recommended in the Planetary Science Decadal Survey. These missions--Venus probes and landers, Saturn and Uranus probes, and sample return missions to comets and asteroids--will require protection from intense atmospheric heating to reach their destinations. The off-the-shelf TPS pr...